DEFINING THE RULES ( The Dating Playbook #3) by Mariah Dietz-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date July 30, 2020

It started with friendship.
The best stories always do.

Our story sounds unlikely.
Bizarre.
A fable.

Like wine and cheese and my favorite pair of jeans,
Things got better over time—
Too good, it seemed.

Arlo Kostas was the starting running back for Brighton University.
His quick smile and sharp wit
Was enough to disarm even the biggest cynic.
And his perfectly defined abs and more perfect face,
Convinced the rest.

I was homesick,
Counting down the days until I returned home for spring break when we met.
Clinging to memories I’d been trying to hold onto for years
And then he tipped my world upside down.

Maybe it was bad luck.
Perhaps we were jinxed,
But things between Arlo and I were doomed,
Right from the very start.

We were supposed to be friends but like everything,
Things kept getting blurred,

Now, we’re Defining the Rules.

•••••••••

REVIEW: DEFINING THE RULES is the third instalment in Maria Dietz’s contemporary, new adult THE DATING PLAYBOOK erotic, college romance series. This is Brighton College football star Arlo Kostas, and junior Olivia Reid’s story line. DEFINING THE RULES can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous instalments is revealed where necessary.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Arlo and Olivia) DEFINING THE RULES follows the building relationship between twenty one year old, college juniors , football star Arlo Kostas, and Olivia Reid. Arlo Kostas has been side lined with a potential career ending injury, a career that has yet to start. Meeting his coach’s daughter Olivia Reid, stirs something deep within our story line hero but their relationship remains strictly in the friend zone, a zone that Arlo refuses to cross. As Olivia continues to pine for a boy back home, Arlo struggles with an uncertain future but a future he is hoping involves Olivia Reid. With the approach of spring break, Arlo offers to show Olivia the sights of metro Seattle in anticipation of her return to her home in Texas. What ensues is the slow building romance and relationship between Arlo and Olivia, and the potential fall-out as secrets and lies threaten Olivia’s less than well-ordered life, and the possibility of Arlo losing it all.

Arlo Kostas is friends with Olivia’s roommate Rosa, and as such Arlo is constantly in Olivia’s orbit. Their growing friendship finds our couple doing relationship activities but a relationship that neither one is willing to label in the face of potential blow back from coaches, friends and the boy back home. The relationship between Arlo and Olivia is one of immediate attraction; a definite palpable sexual energy but Arlo struggles with an uncertain future, and Olivia battles between head and heart where her family and her heart align. The $ex scenes are limited but passionate and seductive.

We are reintroduced to Arlo’s friends and fellow teammates: Lincoln Beckett and Raegan Lawson (Bending the Rules #1 / Breaking the Rules #2); team captain Paxton Lawson; Arlo’s friends Caleb and Poppy; Olivia’s father Coach Harris and his wife Whitney, her roommate Rosa; Olivia’s friend back home Matt, and Arlo’s ex girlfriend Jade.

DEFINING THE RULES is a story of family, friendships, relationships and love; a story of secrets, lies, heart break and disappointment. The premise is engaging and inspiring ; the characters are colorful, impassioned and spirited; the romance is intimate, tender and heart warming.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy